Burnie Bite The Travel Bullet Again

Burnie Emus travel to Rugby Park this week seeking to restore their winning style after coming so close to the grand final before falling 7-3 to Launceston.  Tasmanian Rugby officials will be willing supporters of the uninvolved clubs turn up to view arguably the most travelled club team in Australian club rugby take on a Glenorchy combination who impressed all present with their shut-out of Taroona after trailing by 14 points.  Rarely has the final single point margin seemed like such a gulf.
 
Glenorchy are confident that the extra week could be enough to restore Dan Aualiitia to their line-up.  Wally Dare performed well at fly-half against the Blues and the gamble of introducing a recovering Willie Campbell as a replacement centre seems to have left him unscathed.  They will be confident that their scrum could be as potent in strangling Burnie’s running game as it proved in frustrating the Blues last week.  On the evidence of their last meeting, the Stags will be confident that their direct plunges from ruck ball and drives from line-outs in the opposition quarter will once again prevail.
 
Burnie take considerable assurance from slowing the progress and invading the working space of Launceston last week.  The Emus have regained some personnel in the forwards since their last unsuccessful contest with Glenorchy and look able to mix their game to suit the occasion.  If their pack can win enough ball from line-outs and steady the scrum on their own ball the clash in mid-field should be physical, with centres Dayne Apiti and Sunia Radravu strong in attack and able to hit hard in defence.
 
Both teams have progressed this year on improved self-discipline when it counts.  Burnie will need to keep this in mind, as they missed vital scoring chances last week.  Their back three may have to field angled kicks and marshall blind-side defence to combat the Stags forward rushing game and switches from attacking line-outs.  Glenorchy centres Josh Papera and Stuart Dare can threaten a long way from the try-line and the Emus will need to contest all possession or chase repeated phases a the risk of conceding valuable territory.
 
Glenorchy will need another enormous contribution from lightweight flanker Josh Dorahy to pressure a strong jumping team in the Emus line-out.  The form of Burnie’s Ollie Crawford has severely tested opposing packs over recent weeks.  In tandem with Brett Bentley the big Englishman needs to pressure the inside channels in defence and attack to de-construct Glenorchy’s patterns if the trip south is to pave away to this year’s Grand Final.  ‘We’ll give it a crack’ said Burnie mentor Dave Webber.
 

Burnie v Glenorchy (3pm, Rugby Park)